Tag: fall practice

I finally manage to grab a hold on this overhanging 6b+ route that I’ve failed to manage on the last three attempts, so I frantically reach down for the rope and try to pull it up and clip the next quickdraw. I’ve definitely got my hands wrong here, as I reach down with my right to clip the quickdraw hanging on the left. It’s awkward, and it doesn’t work, so I plummet down. “Wow, that was scary!” – my belayer says, looking at me with wide eyes. But actually, it felt sort of fun…

Those who climb with me regularly will know that I’m obsessed with fall practice on lead climbs at the moment, and I can tell you in all honestly this has really improved my climbing over the last couple of months. It has been helping me to deal with my fear.